The difference between Ginger Ale and Ginger Beer?

The short answer is ginger beer has a deeper, most robust flavor profile than ginger ale. It also has a much more aggressive, spicier finish at the end.

It’s called ginger ‘beer’ because when was first invented in England around the mid 1800s, it was an alcoholic beverage – around 11% abv. It was brewed by fermenting ginger, sugar, water, and sometimes lemon. Back then, ginger beer was both a drink and mixer due to the harshness of alcohol that was distilled during that time period. The strong ginger flavor helped overpower the intense bitterness, making imbibing more palatable.

In the 1900s, ginger ale made it’s way onto the scene. Canadian’s took the concept of ginger beer, but made a ‘dry style’ version, which is what we now know as ginger ale. Ginger ale is meant to be smoother, more mild version it’s full-flavored cousin, ginger beer.

Nowadays, most ginger ale and ginger beer isn’t even brewed. In fact, some ginger beverages don’t even contain any real ginger at all.

At CASON Beverage, we take use new age production and pair it with old world brewing techniques. Our ginger beer is NON-alcoholic, and we use five (5) types of real ginger root to build our flavor profile. Lastly, we cut it with just a little bit of habanero chili to give it a duel, layered spice profile that hangs out on the palate for a bit.